Have you stayed put?

I don't think it was at all unusual to move and to emigrate, although many did stay in their home villages and marry locally.

I am the product of two world wars! I don't think my father would have left his rural town if he had not been moved with his regiment about the country in WW2 and met my mother. Nor would my maternal grandparents have met for the same reason in WW1.
An earlier poster said she thought it was unusual to move from Somerset to London in Victorian times, but I think as the rural trades went into decline people moved to cities for work, and the arrival of the railways helped that.

I have moved out along a railway line about 25 miles! So not very far!
In between I have lived in E Africa and then in the NE of England before returning to the southern parts of Greater London. I moved from SW to SE and then back to SW London until, a few years ago, we came down the line into Surrey!

Some of my family originally moved from rural Herefordshire to build the railways in the 1800s Rosina!

I'm glad that they helped your family to re-locate (albeit in a small way )

I was told that when people are born in big cities they often move out along the railway lines - and thinking about that, it seems to be the case for most of the people I know. The area I lived in became pretty well intolerable some twenty years ago and we have effectively moved a long train journey from what was our nearest railway line.

Born in Cardiff but my dad was in the RAF and we moved every 2 to 3 years. In fact I went to 13 different schools and this has given me the confidence to go anywhere on my own. My late teens were spent working in Sweden and travelling Europe. Now settled in place for 30 years, the longest time I have spent in one place. I have friends scattered around the country and the World. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Lucca The FreeCEN transcription work involves transcribing details from pdfs of handwritten census records to an Excel (or compatible) spreadsheet. So you need a computer of some sort and the relevant software, plus internet access to download and upload the files. I use a smallish laptop, but a bigger screen would make the job easier. You work at your own pace, and with luck may be able to choose an area of the country which interests you. (In my case this was the Lancashire countryside around Chipping where my maternal family were small farmers and farm labourers for generations. They upped sticks to the then new seaside resort of St Annes in the late 19th century to set up as butchers, selling meat reared on the family farm.) Returning to the point, I guess it helps a bit to be familiar with the census area so you can decipher names and places more readily, Anyway, here's the link to the FreeCEN volunteering page www.freecen.org.uk/cms/opportunities-to-volunteer-with-freecen

I live just around the corner from the house where I was born. I can see the house from a bedroom window. Dad was born 2 miles away, Mum 3 miles away. All of our family and my parents brothers and sisters have stayed in the vicinity until death except my sister who married and lives in Bath and my eldest sister who married an American in the mid fifties and lived there ever since. My friends who I grew up with since starting school have all married and live here in the same village as their parents and other family. We're not very adventurous are we.

My mother's family are Lancashire through and through., said "If you're not a Crompton, you're a Greenhalgh" because these two family names go back a long way and can be found throughout Lancashire. (we are Greenhalgh) I was born Lancashire but moved about after marriage and now live in Scotland. Rest of siblings/extended family close to where they started.

My family came from N Wales and Somerset in the 19th century to London, where they lived in the same Borough for four generations, we moved out to Kent in the 70's. Unbeknown to us my DH family have lived here in the 19th century just down the road from where we are.

I was born in the East Midlands, moved to Devon and now back to within around five miles of my birthplace.

We live 5mls from where I was born on The Wirral and OHs family where from Ireland and Onchan in Isle of Man (some still live there)
We moved to Newquay when DD was small then came back to Wirral with OHs job.
When we both took early retirement in our early 50s we moved to Altea in Spain for nearly 9yrs.
Coming back to UK we now live just a few miles from where I was born close to our children & grandchildren.

My ancestors on my mother’s side were mainly agricultural workers, though some worked in the local jobs needed eg cordwainer ( shoemaker ). Then when coal mining developed, many moved north to the Yorkshire pits. Others moved to work on the railways. The females were in service and some of them ended up all over the country.
So they went where work could be found.
I am the same. I have lived in various places for work, including many years in Yorkshire, not knowing I had relatives there.
Now in retirement I have returned to be near my children which just happens to be not far from where I grew up , though it is not where I was born, as my parents had left that area for work reasons.

My mother's family all originated from Wales and remained there all their lives until my GP moved to London in the 30s.

My father's family were Londoners and lived in and around London for generations never living more than a few miles from each other. I was brought up in London where I stayed until we moved to IoW a few years ago.

Since living here we have been amazed how many people we've met who have never left the island! Likewise some older people living on the west side of the island (more rural) have never been to the island capital of Newport, and would never dream of travelling the 24 miles to the east coast. The churchyards here are an insight into the numerous generations of families who have remained close to home. It's common to hear someone say ".... you can get that at so-and-so-store if you want to go that far" 'That far' being just 7 miles!!

I live in the same town I was born in. My husband too. Our fathers went to the same school in the town, as we did and our children and now our grandchildren. Having said this we have all travelled/back packed all over the world - but our homes are here.

Hi what does this volunteer work involve please ?

I now live just over five miles from where I was born; my parents and grandparents never moved from there. I left home at seventeen and, both as a servicewoman and a service wife, travelled around for twenty three years before settling back in South Yorkshire. My DH is Welsh and we could have settled there - there was no pressure on him to settle here, and I like Wales - but he liked Yorkshire, and my wider family, and the job opportunities were better. Both my children were born in different foreign countries; one now lives in the same town, one in the North of the county.

I'm 50 & live just round the corner from the house I was born in, where my parents still live.
I lived 3 miles away during my first marriage. My first hubby was a school friend's brother....lived about 2 miles from us. 2nd hubby lived 20 miles away. We lived in my current house while we were married. My bf lives 10 miles away but was born & brought up closer to where I live.
Both of my grown up daughters live within 2 miles of my house.
My sister went to Oxford uni & has stayed down south ever since. I'm obviously the unadventerous one!
I did have my first child at an extremely young age, which meant going to uni in my home town, & not till I was 26 & had 2 more children. Maybe that's why I've ended up staying put.

Come from Hastings (As did my mother's family who all stayed put). When I got married moved to Bracknell. Moved to the US where we lived in NJ, FL & GA. Returned to Bracknell and have lived in Bristol for nearly 28 years

Born in Hertfordshire and live in Bedfordshire..... 30 mile difference. My kids still live here. But my parents were roamers...mum was born in Liverpool ...brought up in Manchester and moved to London before the war. Dad was from Aldershot (army family) and moved up to Hertfordshire after he came back from Spanish Civil War. We’ve all lived in the ‘soft south ‘ ever since.

I was born in Scotland, my father in Bradford, both his parents in Edinburgh, but they met in Paris. My mother was born in Copenhagen, her mother in a small Danish town, her parents both died in different places to their place of birth. My maternal grandfather was a Londoner by birth, spent most of his adult life in Russia, fled from St Peterburg during the revolution, married my grandmother in 1920 in Copenhagen and died there four years later.
My mother was born in Copenhagen, met my father at RAF Sylt, married him in Hamburg and they lived until 1980 in Scotland. Moved to Denmark, where my sister and I were settled then and lived, died and are buried here.
I myself moved to Denmark age 16, lived most of my adult life in Copenhagen, but now DH and I are living in a small town near the German border. My sister lived all her adult life in a small town outside Copenhagen.

I think some families move around a lot and probably always have, whereas others live for generations in the same area.

My other half is Scottish, left at 15 and returned from living/working all over the world, (especially the Far East) on retirement.
I am also Scottish, moved to the Caribbean after marriage, lived and worked there and the USA for 14 years returning to Scotland when my mum wasn't coping after my dad's death. Moved to New Zealand after her death then returned home after 3 years, met my OH and intend to live out the rest of our days in Scotland. (Escaping to the sun very often)
I have noticed many people tend to move back closer to their roots on retirement, possibly to care for their family members.

I have always lived within seven miles of where I was born but half of my family live abroad.

My maternal
grandparents were married and lived in a suburb of Merseyside, Nanna born in Spain and Pops in Cambridge. They actually had a Spanish cook/maid who had her own rooms. My parents were both born married and lived in the wider Liverpool area although for a while they lived on USAF bases in the South. I was born in Devon but we moved to Liverpool when I was a few months old. One brother still lives there, in the same house for 58 years.
I moved to Surrey when I married but have lived in the Isle of Man, Jersey, Fife, Kent, Hants, Cambridge and Yorkshire.
Being divorced gives me the freedom to up sticks whenever I feel like a change whilst still keeping friends in all those places.

I have never lived in the same house for more than about 7 years. I always say that I must have gypsy blood in my veins ?! I was born in Aberdeen, which was the nearest main hospital to where we lived, then my mum uprooted us when I was about 5 or 6 years old and took us down to Leicester which was a big culture shock back the, going from a small fishing town in NE Scotland to a big multicultural city. And I have never settled in the one area since. Even now, at the age of 63 me and hubby are in Spain and still wandering about!

But I do recall when I was studying sociology our tutor said that folk would usually marry within their own class, meeting either at school, college, universities, work or through friends. It was very rare to marry someone outwith your class or the area you live in. This was because you both would know the right cues to particular behaviours that we’re familiar to you both, you would share the same local dialects and so on, so you both feel comfortable with each other and each other’s family/friends.